This is a thread, it was originally on twitter posted on tumblr and i found it in my export. I think that this is a very important thing for people to hear, especially in regards to alt text on fedi. Please be mindful of the people around you, and try to make things accessible. I think that the people around me can relate to this, I have had a lot of times my short term memory would just blank out and I would have to ask over and over again for someone to repeat themselves.
Once I formed a habit regarding alt text, stuck with it and accepted that any alt text is better than none it has been a lot easier for me to write alt text to make things more accessible to people who can't see, who can't get the attachment (it's genuinely useful, the alt text federates a lot faster).
@saragon that's a topic in its own, a lot of accessibility tools such as screenreaders are locked down, proprietary and cost a lot of money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display these are notoriously cost prohibitive. OCR tools are just another symptom of the problem. People tend to design things without accessibility in mind, hack on accessibility later. It bothers me so much because I've talked to a variety of really talented tech people who are either hard of hearing, or visually impaired. It's really hard to do Windows Server Administration for instance if you're blind. A lot of our tools to handle tech are not made for accessibility.
PSA: If you have to sit there removing traits that your friends deem "unacceptable", such as trying to avoid your sexuality or acting like "an LGBTQ+" individual... protip: those people aren't your friends and doing that to yourself over long periods of time is not worth it. I sat there for YEARS repressing myself to be included in tech spaces who would've otherwise hated me for being publicly trans and queer. I regret trying to suck up and be "one of them" or "a good one". No fuck you, I am not hampering my personality to sit there and appease someone who very much wants my kind eradicated. Part of my recent techposting has been the fact I found a space where I can both be a kinky weird freak who's trans and gay while still being respected and able to talk to people about technology. A lot of the time I spent in those communities was negative to my mental health. Watching my acquaintances (if they can even be called that) spouting transphobic & homophobic rhetoric for years unend while not being able to say anything, and having to hide that part of me did a lot of harm on my mental health.
Do not fall for the "I don't hate gay people, I just hate the ones who make it their entire personality" thing. Listen, those people do not give a single shit about you and often times will straight up hate you regardless. I didn't make being trans about my personality, I sometimes talk about the issues I face as an LGBTQ+ individual. You know what those people say to that? "Why are you bringing this up? You're making things awkward. This is what I don't like about the LGBTQ+ community, you make everything about yourselves". No I'm sorry but I have a legitimate right to express my fear and anxiety regarding current active attempt to wipe people like me off the face of the earth.
ok i thought this was gonna be an image that i could just post. there's actually more to this an actual shrine. this was originally a tumblr post but i cba to try to find the actual html from the tumblr export.